Trust News

Here’s a great opportunity for young Trust members and their folks to be on the pitch before the Deportivo game and get up close and personal with Peter Whittingham! The Trust bought a Golden Boot trophy in recognition of  Peter’s outstanding haul of goals for the Bluebirds last season. Due to the play-offs, we were unable to present it to him until now but arrangements have been made to finally get it done, on the pitch before the pre-season friendly with Deportivo on Saturday 31st July.  If you’ve bought tickets for the game and you’re a Trust member with kids under 16 who would like to be involved in the presentation, please email us at  help@ccfctrust.org. Be quick because on Monday at 18:00 pm, we will select the lucky family group from the emails received. Please send your names and Trust member numbers in your email and keep your fingers crossed!

Trust Meeting to Approve 2009 Accounts

The Trust’s annual accounts for 2009 were approved at a meeting of members last night. In the period from August 2008 to December 2009, our income, mainly through membership subscriptions, was around £17,000. Expenditure was some £7,000 leaving a surplus of  about £10,000. The biggest expenses during the period were on audit fees and stationery as well as the initial £1,000 we used to buy our first shares in the club. Since then, we have bought a further £5,000 worth of shares in the club.

Following the approval of the accounts, members had a chance to discuss how we can take the Trust forward during the coming season. Some really good ideas were suggested as to how we can recruit more fans to the Trust, offer greater benefits to members and improve communication with the Club and within the Trust. There was a suggestion to establish a Trust youth section  and to hold member only events. We have already asked the club if current players can come to speak to supporters. The Andy Legg/Jason Perry evening was a great success and we want to build on this.

We will be asking the club if they can link directly from their website to ours so that we can recruit more members. Since we started, we have signed up some 900 members but we need to grow the membership and to retain the members who have joined. We are looking at the membership structure and the possibility of much closer links with the Supporters Club.

Ali Yassine suggested we could make more use of the announcements at half time and that the Trust might want to sponsor half-time events on the pitch. Thanks to Ali for that and I am sure we will follow this suggestion up. We are already planning to make a promotional film which we will be able to put on Youtube and our website. We hope a DVD of it can be played on the buses to away matches as a way of recruiting new members. We are also exploring the possibility of resurrecting a fans TV station along the lines of Valley rams TV with interviews and items about the City. The Trust communication group is working on an e-magazine for all members. Those who are not on email will receive a hard copy.

Thanks to everyone for attending last night. It was a lively meeting and all in all we have a lot of work going on. Trust Board members will be meeting the club in August so if you have any questions you want answering by the club, or you want to comment on how we take the Trust forward then please email us at help@ccfctrust.org

C’mon City!

Tim Hartley
Chair

Click for larger image

Specially-designed pin badges to raise funds for the Fred Keenor Statue Fund are now on sale.

The two different designs showing an image of Fred holding the FA Cup have been produced as part of fundraising for the statue to honour the captain of the 1927 FA Cup winning team. The badges cost £3 each.

David Craig, project manager for the Fred Keenor Statue Fund Appeal Committee, said:  “Jon Chedgzoy, who is a member of Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust and lives in Herefordshire, contacted us with the idea of the badges and offered his help for which we were very grateful.

“Jon arranged for the badges, which are larger than the normal pin badge, to be manufactured and we’re really delighted with the quality.

“We hope that badge collectors, as well as City and Wales supporters, will snap them up and boost our statue fund raising efforts. If you buy a badge you are helping to buy a piece of the statue. And when you wear it you are telling everyone that you care and also publicising the appeal at the same time.”

Badges can be bought at the Supporters’ Trust  base between aisles 108 and 109 (Ninian and Canton Stands) from 2pm at the Deportivo La Coruna match on Saturday, July 31, and at subsequent Championship matches.

The badges will also be available for purchase at the football match between rival City message boards taking place on the under-16 pitch at Leckwith – opposite the stadium – on Sunday, August 22 (1pm for 2pm kick-off). The match is in aid of the statue fund.

They are also available by post from Trust Press Officer Phillip Nifield, 5 Heol Cattwg, Whitchurch, Cardiff, CF14 1JQ at £3 plus £1 postage and packing  per badge. Cheques or postal orders only should be made out to the Fred Keenor Statue Fund or FKSF.

All Trust members are invited to a General Meeting of the Cardiff City Supporters’ Society Ltd (Cardiff City Supporters’ Trust). It will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 22nd, at the Duke of Clarence pub in Clive Road, Canton, Cardiff.

The only formal business of the meeting is to seek the approval of members for the audited accounts of the Cardiff City Supporters’ Society Ltd for the period August 4th, 2008 to December 31st, 2009.

We ask all members to attend if at all possible because  we need a quorum to ensure  the accounts are approved and filed with the Financial Services Authority

Following the formal business (which should not take long), there will be an opportunity for members to meet and raise any issues and discuss matters with Directors of the Trust.

We look forward to meeting and chatting with you.

Following a recent discussion on internet message boards, the Trust Board wishes to clarify its rules and policy concerning co-opting people onto the Trust Board.

At its inception, the Cardiff City Supporters Trust (CCST) was obliged by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to adopt a set of rules based on those developed by the Supporters Direct organisation to govern Supporters Trusts. These rules included making provision for co-opting non-elected people onto the Trust Board. Despite objections from the founders of the Trust, Supporters Direct was adamant this rule was included.

The current rules of the CCST then do allow for people to be co-opted onto the Board. However, the rules also clearly state that elected Board members must always be in a majority over non-elected Board members so that the democratic principles of the Trust are maintained.

The rules about co-opting people allow the Board to bring specific expertise to bear on specific issues. They give examples of people who may be co-opted such as a Local Authority representative, a disabled supporters’ representative, a local businessperson or a representative of a community scheme. Many other clubs have successfully co-opted such members to their Boards and have found their input very valuable. Any decision to co-opt a non-elected Board member would have to be discussed by the Board as a group before any such invitation were issued.

Up to now, the CCST Board has not co-opted anyone onto the Board so all the current Board members have been elected by the membership. The Trust Board wishes to make it clear to members that it has no plans at present to depart from this approach.

Bluebirds fanatic Jayne Hughes has organised a football match between supporters who use Annis Abraham’s Message Board (AAMB) and those that post on Mike Morris’ board (CCMB) in aid of the Fred Keenor Statue Fund Appeal.

It kicks off at 2pm on Sunday, August 22, on the under-16’s pitch at Leckwith, opposite the Cardiff City Stadium.

Jayne, who is from Caerau, Ely, said: “Ex-City stars Damon Searle and Scott Young have agreed to act as managers for the two teams.

“A great fun day for all is promised with music from Wiggy of Real Radio, a raffle with some great prizes and activities for children including a penalty shoot, and it’s all for a good cause. We’ll be there from 1pm.” City half-time announcer Wayne Crichton has also accepted an invitation to attend.

Team photographs will be taken at pitch side at the stadium before the game with the sides having use of the changing rooms. The Premier Lounge (Level 4) will be after the game for the presentation of trophies and the raffle draw. Each competing player is contributing £20.

Statue fund project manager David Craig said: “We thank Jayne so much for her great work in putting together this event in aid of the fund. We hope that other supporters will follow her lead and organise their own events – it can be a jumble sale, coffee morning, whatever you want to do.”

On the day players will shower and change at the ground and have a tour of the stadium. Half-hour tours for everyone else are available starting from 4pm and running until 5.30pm. The cost is just £2 for adults and £1 for children.